City Schools Keep Charters at Arm’s Length (OH)

December 21, 2010

Maybe it’s not an all-out war against charters.

But 13 years after charter schools came to Ohio and five years after the Columbus school district announced that it would dabble in the charter-school business, it isn’t a truce, either.

Critics say the Columbus district’s us-versus-them mentality has become even more glaring as other large, urban districts in the country – and some small ones in central Ohio – have extended a hand to the one-time enemy of traditional public education.

Nine big-city districts, including Baltimore, Denver and Los Angeles, signed agreements this month promising to collaborate with charter schools.

The Cleveland school district began a charter-friendly initiative and is hiring someone to help oversee the creation of charter schools.

This year, the Reynoldsburg district oversees four charter schools, the most of any Ohio school district. Universities and some nonprofit groups also can sponsor charters.

And then there’s Columbus.

"There remain those school districts that are fearful of charter schools and remain stewards of the status quo," said Bill Sims, who heads the Ohio Alliance for Public Chart er Schools.

In some ways, the district is where it was in 2005, except that then, 5,000 Columbus students were attending charter schools, and now nearly 12,700 are. They take with them $88.3 million in state money that is allocated on a per-student basis.

Columbus never opened the charter-school office it promised in 2005 and never sponsored another school besides the Academic Acceleration Academy for at-risk students and dropouts. It leases a vacant school to the KIPP Journey Academy, a charter school, but has been criticized for not offering more of its nicer empty schools to charters.

"I don’t know of anything we’re doing that is different than what we’ve been doing up to this point," said Keith Bell, Columbus’ chief academic officer. "We just want to do what’s best for all our kids."

The definition of which kids qualify as "our kids" for a traditional public-school district is what defines whether charters are friends or foes.

For Reynoldsburg, which has emerged as an example of charter-district collaboration, the phrase "our kids" extends to those in charters. The district views the publicly funded but privately run schools as part of a range of options for parents.

"In the end, we’re committed to serving children, parents and taxpayers, period. We think choice is a good thing. And as such, the innovation and creativity that abounds with charter schools provides a unique opportunity to serve kids well," said Reynoldsburg Superintendent Steve Dackin.

Dackin praises the A+ Arts Academy, which it has sponsored since 2004, as an example of a charter school that is making gains with stud ents.

"We really shouldn’t be the enemy," said Carolyn Berkley, the A+ school’s founder and superintendent. "Sometimes, it takes an alternative, and Reynoldsburg was able to see that some charter schools can be a help."

The district has the right idea, said Mark Real, president and CEO of KidsOhio.

"They’re upfront about the idea that, ‘We know our schools don’t meet the needs of all students,’" he said.

In the past, urban districts have been opponents of charter schools, saying they take students and money away from traditional districts and offer low-quality schooling in return.

Districts that work with charter schools – or at least try to learn from successful ones – are going to simultaneously improve themselves and the charter schools, said Mike Feinberg, a co-founder of the Knowledge is Power Program, a charter-school model that has been successful with urban students.

"It would be Burger King asking McDonald’s for help. But what McDonald’s needs to understand is they’ll get better as a result," he said.

Ignoring charter schools won’t work, Real said.

"Most reasonable people think there’s going to be an expansion of these schools in the next few years," he said. And the students who attend charters often attend district schools at some point, too.

"The district has a choice of either acknowledging that reality or not acknowledging it."